Steve Rustad illuminates issues and dissects politics

No. Not Steve Jobs. I meant employment, hopefully the steady kind. Petaluma's a vital, agricultural town so, from time to time, we are going to smell the perfume of compost, fertilizer, dirt, grain, animals, diesel engines and many other aromas that attend farm-based commerce. It all smells like life, to my nose.

Salmonella is another good reason to buy local food. At least if you get sick you can go throw up on their doorstep. Seriously, I believe that the closer one is to the source of the food, the healthier the food is likely to be. Or at least, the least adulterated, mishandled or misrepresented. I only wish that farmer's markets were more frequent, and that local farmers were better compensated for their investment in sweat and cash. You can thank our nanny-state progressives for the restrictive laws and regulations that have made local small (e.g., non-agribusiness) farming increasingly a rich man's hobby.

We love our parades. The Butter & Egg Days Parade, in particular, is a great way to pass along Petaluma's rural heritage to those (like me) who arrived long after River Town ceased being an agricultural hub. For those multi-generational families who's ancestors arrived to work the land, it's a way to remember the town where they grew up and where they raised children who went on to become doctors, lawyers and Internet gurus. Parades, after all, are a fixture of American small town life and Petaluma relishes being an American small town.